


colour theory

by ripplingtale



Category: King's Raid (Video Game)
Genre: Character Study, M/M, Set in Summer Festival
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-29 22:53:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20090104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ripplingtale/pseuds/ripplingtale
Summary: They said, your soul was bare in your eyes.





	colour theory

**Author's Note:**

> King's Raid belongs to Vespa and I, as a writer, didn't take any material profits from the content here. I might or might not accidentally made Esker seems so thirsty, I apologize.

“Let’s move to the next challenge!”

Juno clapped, eager and wholehearted. Her childlike excitement drowned the screams of dread from the night of bravery’s participants just distances away from the open beach, pulling attention away from curious wonder of what kind of horror the participants encountered in the trail.

Some people were better knowing nothing for a good night sleep, after all.

Esker drummed his fingers on the table, absentmindedly rattling his dices. He threw his gaze to the front, where a makeshift stage was built close in front of the fire to entertain those who didn’t want to join the night of bravery nevertheless still wanted to have fun. Like the Illusion Gambler, for example, even if he was just watching everything unfolded since the spontaneous start.

People scattered around the stage, sitting in tables of fours and twos, chattering in a low voice, pondering what kind of challenge next. It has been one random challenge after another, with improved rules and laws, as well as a completely different game with the same name. Esker would be lying if he said he didn’t expect at least one challenge he could win with his talents.

“We will have a staring contest!” Juno grinned, her eyes were twinkling alike the fire behind her back; her words rippled enthusiasm amidst the audiences. “Like before, everyone can join, take anyone with you and talk about everything. The one who cast their stare away first is the loser!”

The crowds started to move, people grabbing another, chortling as they dragged confused passerby to the challenge. Laughs and pleasant exclaims filled the nights, churning the sounds of the waves and crackles of flames, the sounds of steps pressing over the sand, stepping a tone louder when Juno continued, “Remember, only talk. No distracting gestures or moves!”

Esker blinked when a figure filled his vision, hiding the fire from his eyes, blinding him with the darkness for a moment. His first thought was Ophelia, but the figure smelled like the sea, a field of lilies. Ophelia never smelled like lilies. “Esker,” Lucias greeted, sitting on the empty seat across.

Realization ticked a second too fast. “Lucias.” Perhaps, Esker mindlessly drawled the name, as if weighting it on his lips all over again. It still tasted the same; like ambers, like wine. “You’re joining?” He did know he would bump into the Saint of Blessing sooner or later, but he didn’t expect it would be at the beach, on a night of summer festival.

Esker was already used to see Lucias dressed in his Saint clothes, the sight of Lucias only clothed in a shirt and short nearly pushed his gaze down. Was that a necklace? Lucias as a child didn’t strike him as someone who would wear accessories─time really did a wonder. The pendant dangled on it was familiar, but Esker couldn’t see it well underneath the shadow and starlight.

Lucias placed his hands on the table, chin propped forwards. His smile was thin, the edges were reaching his eyes, Esker vividly remembered the same smile etched on Lucias’ countenance when he offered Esker his fishing rod once upon a time. “For the free feast, yes,” he said. But then again, everyone who joined in the challenge also wanted the rewards, for they said, not even the dragons would refuse Juno’s cooking.

And everyone loved free food.

Esker leaned on his hand, tucking his dices away. He didn’t know when to start, but he was already starting; gaze fixated on the young man before him, a year older, withstanding changes as if he was the eye of the storm. Chatters turned into aimless whispers; crowds muted into faint presences. The stars waned in Lucias’ eyes. The fire danced around the lines of his hair. Lights were drawn to Lucias alike to fireflies. Was the world always this obedient before?

Words tumbled beneath a breath, Esker drew a blank. They should talk, but there was nothing to talk about other than the past, the whys, the what-ifs. However, Esker prided himself as someone who wouldn’t get caught in reveries, in daydreams. What should he think? What should they talk about? What else remained? And they said the Illusion Gambler has such way with words.

Esker did have ways with words, only if it wasn’t Lucias who looked at him with a smile.

“Baudouin taught me something about eyes.”

As if rousing from a sleep, the voice rippled through the silence. Esker almost pulled back, simply because he didn’t expect Lucias to speak. He wondered if he should know who Baudouin was (He actually did. And Ricardo, too), or should he pretend it was something akin to a friend of a friend’s friend; an important presence in one conversation, then gone and forgotten.

He chose the latter, because it was easier. Everything was easier if it was Lucias. “Is this something from the bible?” Esker said, raising his eyebrows. He wouldn’t say it himself, but he was actually quite familiar with the entirety of bible since Lucias always rambled about it to him like a lullaby, like a fairytale meant to lull one asleep. It was still the most boring thing Esker found himself listening, and yet he couldn’t stop himself from echoing Lucias’ words as he fiddled with his dices.

Lucias shook his head, slowly as to not accidentally break their gazes. “No, not really,” he hummed, fingers tap, tap, tapping against the table in a tuneless hymn, buried by the sudden riots as Kasel lost against Frey, or mayhap the other way around. “It’s about the irises. He said, green is envy, blue is pride, red is wrath, purple is greed.”

Esker’s thought landed on Lucias’ eyes. Because it was the closest, right across, because Lucias’ eyes drew the light close until Esker was tempted to close his owns and trace the haloed colors behind his eyelids. Green was envy, blue was pride, purple was greed. Esker never heard about it. He tried to come up with a name, whose eyes matched Lucias’ words.

“What about virtues?” His mind came clipped. For a moment, for a second too long, Esker believed his gaze strayed away. But Lucias stilled, their stares never left each other. There were stars and moon, there was an entire night sky in Lucias’ eyes; was that what made his eyes blue, was that what made him wear pride on his fair countenance?

“Dark. Black, brown.” Lucias’ eyes soften. The fire lingering around the edge of his presence lapsed into something tender, something kind, something heavenly and ethereal. Something that would make people took a glance at him and said, aah, he was the Saint of Blessing, all right.

Esker paused, lips hidden underneath fingertips as he counted his thought. The idea of one’s sins and virtues being pressed upon their eyes were foreign. It could be a belief, a tattletale meant for one to be careful of a sinner. It could be a warning from Baudouin for Lucias, or it could be a warning from Lua for whoever served her day and night.

It could be a warning about Esker for Lucias.

There was a flash of white, a pair of wings, two. Esker could feel frost melting beneath his skin, yet he held his gaze still. Whatever angels were doing in this place? Should there was a demon ran amok, Esker could help, of course, however, he’d hate it if he would be the one who stray his gaze first. He was still playing, and Esker never lost a challenge offered on top of a table.

“Esker, you’re a greedy person, aren’t you?”

Esker wondered if it was fair if he turned the question to Lucias, too. Because Lucias’ eye was also purple, only brighter, only starstruck. The color of lavender and summer, the hue of dusk and the edge of dawn; Lucias was a Saint of Blessing and he held two sins altogether. What was it, the thing Lucias would gladly take greedily? Might be peace, might be blessings and virtues.

On the other side, what was something Esker would take with greed?

Esker studied Lucias’ eyes. The corner of his vision caught the necklace dangling around the young priest’s neck. The pendant rang nostalgia on his head, whispering remembrance; the shapes of the pendant started to make sense, started to tally reminiscence. Green, red, blue with numerous sides. Green, red, blue danced below the shadow, shying away from the light. Green, red, blue, dices.

Oh.

Esker studied Lucias’s eyes, because that was the only thing he could see at this moment, at this second. Alongside the eyes, came fair skin, and then platinum hair, and then nose, lips, ears, a whole head. Alongside the eyes, came a name, and then voice, and then memories, and then, perhaps, future. Alongside the eyes, came Lucias. The Saint of Blessings, the High Priest, the peculiar young man who barely batted an eyelash when he knew Esker was a sinner beyond saved.

Alongside the eyes, came dusk and dawn. Lucias.

This. _This_ was what Esker would take with greed.

“May be.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I bought their beach costumes the second it was released. Esker's sandals are hilarious.
> 
> My best friend, my lifeline, my beta Frey said Esker looks like he was drawn be R18 artist in his beach costume and I don't know how to feel ever since. Also, I was actually hoping for them to appear in the summer dungeon, but Granblue Fantasy taught me not to hope for anything, so I wrote this. Kind of late, I know.
> 
> Thank you for your kudos and comments in my previous work. I've been thinking about a modern AU for a while, so you can expect more Esker/Lucias pieces from me, buckle up, people, I'll still be here for a while.
> 
> Thank you for reading, I hope I did them justice.  



End file.
